Question: Christopher bought a new pair of shorts at the store when they were having a $5\%$ off sale. If the regular price of the pair of shorts was $$17$, how much did Christopher pay with the discount?
Solution: First, find the amount of the discount by multiplying the original price of the of the item by the discount. $$17$ $\times$ $5\%$ $=$ Percent means "out of one hundred," so $5\%$ is equivalent to $\frac{5}{100}$ which is also equal to $5 \div 100$ $5 \div 100 = 0.05$ Multiply the discount you just converted into a decimal by the original price to find the amount of money saved. $0.05$ $\times$ $$17$ $ = $ $$0.85$ Subtract the discount you just found from the original price to get the final price Christopher paid. $$17$ $-$ $$0.85$ $ = $ $$16.15$ Christopher paid $$16.15$ for the pair of shorts.